Pneumatic stacker.



No. 888,571. PATENTED MAY 2a, 1908;

L. M. ANDERSON.

PNEUMATIC STAGKER.

APPLICATION FILED SBPT.'10,1996.

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No. 888,571. 8 v PATENTED MAY26, 1908.

' L. M. ANDERSON.

PNEUMATIC STAGKER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10,1906.

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.THE NORRIS PETERS co.,'wAsHlNcruN, 04 C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. LARS M. ANDERSON, OF OROOKSTON, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO INDIANA MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

PNEUMATIC STACKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed September 10, 1906. Serial No. 333,938.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LABS M. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Crookston, in the county of Polk and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Stackers, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of my present invention is to improve that variety of pneumatic straw stackers which form the subject matter (for example) of Letters Patent of the United States No. 613,260 and No. 747,397 by providing a means for carrying'over the chafi" to the straw-receiving hopper in the rear of the fan housing, as was accomplished by the machine of Patent No. 613,260, while at the same time dispensing with the raddle or carrier as in the machine of Patent No. 747,397 In the latter patent, while the raddle or carrier was dispensed with, the chaff was practically all carried-into the eyes of the fan, which is undesirable, while in the former patent, although the chaff was carried to beyond the fan, it embodied the objectionable raddle or carrier.

Referring to the.accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the rear portion of a threshing machine or separator provided with a pneumatic straw stacker embodying my present invention Fig. 2 a view partly in top plan and partly in horizontal section at the point indicated by the dotted line 22 in Fig. 3, of those portions of the pneumatic stacker to which my present invention immediately relates; Fig. 3 a lon gitudinal sectional view at the point indicated by the dotted line 33 in Fig. 2, as seen when looking in the direction indicated by the arrows Fig. 4 a view partially in front elevation and partially in transverse vertical section as seen when looking in the direction indicated by the arrows from the dotted line 44 in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 a detail sectional view similar to a portion of Fig. 3 but on an enlarged scale, and Fig. 6 a view partially through and partially alongside the outlet for the auxiliary blast hereinafter described, illustrating the form of said outlet more clearly.

The pneumatic straw stacker to which my present invention relates, is, generally speaking, of much the same character as that shown and described in the above mentioned Patent No. 747,397, although of a considerably improved construction. It is, moreover, of the variety known as attached stackers, while that illustrated in said patent is of the variety known as wheeled or independent stackers. like that of the patent, is preferably of the twin fan variety, having two fans 21 and 22 on a single shaft 23, and is provided with small pockets or hoppers 24, 25 and 26 alongside the fan-housings to receive chaff, although in the present construction these pockets or hoppers are designed to receive a fractionof the chaff only, instead of nearly all of it as in the patent in question. Said pockets or hoppers are also extended to be low the fan-eyes, and their bottoms are closed (by being continued to against the walls of the fan-housings) so that none of the chaff can drop to the ground, instead of being open, as is shown in said patent. In this construction walls or embankments are formed by the edges 31 of the adjacent portions or heads of the fan-housing, against which cylinder teeth or like hard objects will lodge and be prevented from entering the fans, thus achieving the object heretofore accomplished by leaving the bottoms of said pockets or hoppers open, without the objectionable slobbering of chaff which resulted from that form.

That particular iin rovement which I have I have omitted the inverted-V-shaped roofs (or chaffedividers) which were placed upon the tops of the circumferential walls of the fan-housings in said Patent No. 747,397, by means of which the chafi was guided down to the fan eyes, and have left, the tops of the circumferential walls 33 of my present fanhousings perfectly fiat. This would result, if no means were provided to prevent, in causing the chaff to pile on these flat surfaces, thus choking the machine. I have, however, provided a means for not only keeping these surfaces clean, but of blowing a large portion of the chaff over into the main hopper or straw hopper in the rear. At a certain oint (as best shown in Figs. 3 and 5) I rovi e an offset in the circumferential wall 0 each of the fan-housings, and just in front of said offset form an opening extending transversely across said wall from side to side, and over this 0 ening I place a hood or shield 41, the wall 0 which extends first outwardly a short distance and thence rear- The present stacker, however,

wardly substantially parallel with the surface of that portion of the fan-housing wall through which the opening is made which is in front of said opening. This has a peculiar effect. A certain amount of the air (under the pressure generated by the fan) escapes from the chamber of the fan-housing outwardly through this opening into the small auxiliary chamber thus formed, and by means of the hood or shield forming the outer wall of said auxiliary chamber is directed rearwardly along the outer flat surface of the fan-housing wall 33, before described, blowing the chaff before it,' and driving a large part of it over into the straw hopper, a portion only being deflected to the sides and falling down into the hoppers or pockets at the sides of the fan-housing and thence entering the fan eyes. The peculiar form of this auxiliary chamber and air-egress opening operates to separate the chaff from the air before the latter escapes through said opening, so that this auxiliary blast is composed of substantially pure air notwithstanding that it is taken from within the main chamber of the fan-housing into which a considerable quantity of chafi is delivered. The chaff is of somewhat greater specific gravity than the air, and (owing to the construction and arrangement described) will therefore jump across the point or shoulder 42 behind the opening to a point on the inner surface of the circumferential wall of the housing just in advance of the opening, and will pass on along said surface to the ordinary tangential egress-opening of the fan, while the comparatively pure air will pass out through the peculiar opening described and form the aux iliary blast for the purpose of keeping the tops of the fan-housings free from chaff.

As illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing, the auxiliary chamber for the air by means of which this work is accomplished is of a peculiar character. As already described the hood or shield 41 extends out and curves around and extends rearwardly so that its outer portion is substantially parallel with the adjacent surface of the circumferential wall 33 of the fan-housing. As shown in Fig. 6 the auxiliary air chamber is also provided with end pieces 43 and 44 which curve inwardly toward each other somewhat, and thus cause the sides of the small auxiliary air blast described to converge, giving greater strength and efficiency to this auxiliary blast. This I have found in practice to be of considerable importance, as otherwise there is a tendency 011 the part of the air to spread and scatter the chafl instead of delivering it to the desired point. By this means I not only remove, to a large degree, the objections attendant upon the sending of all or nearly all the chaff through the fans, but I also reduce the cost of building the fan-housings, and diminish their height.

As before stated, the objectionable and troublesome raddle or carrier used in such constructions as'that illustrated in Patent No. 613,260 is also wholly dispensed with.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a pneumatic straw stacker, a fan housing having an opening in its outer wall, and a hood or shield over said opening, the outer portion whereof extends over and in a direction substantially parallel with that portion of said wall on the forward side of said opening.

2. In a pneumatic straw stacker, a fan housing having an opening in its outer wall, and a hood or, shield over said opening, the outer portion whereof extends in a direction substantially parallel with said wall, the opening between the hood or shield and the fan-housing wall having end walls converging towards each other.

3. The combination, in a pneumatic straw stacker, of a fan housing and an auxiliary chamber communicating therewith and adapted to receive a blast of air from the chamber thereof, said auxiliary chamber having its rear wall extending from a point nearer to a point further from the opposite edge of the communicating opening than the center of the fan structure, and having a discharge mouth arranged to deliver its blast on to the outer surface of that portion of the circumferential wall of the fan housing beginning with said edge.

4. The combination, in a pneumatic stacker, of a'fan housing having an offset portion in its circumferential wall, an opening in said wall just in advance of the shoulder of said offset, a hood or shield extending outwardly from said shoulder and thence forwardly and substantially parallel with the portion of said wall on the opposite side from said shoulder, whereby the air which escapes through said opening under the pressure generated by the fan will operate to blow off any material which would otherwise lodge on the fan casing.

5. In a pneumatic straw stacker, a fan and a fan-housing having the ordinary tangential outlet and also a second outlet toward which the outer or tangential portion of the circumferential wall approaches in the reverse to the usual direction.

6. In a pneumatic straw stacker, a fan and a fan-housing having the ordinary tangential outlet and also a second outlet toward which the outer portion of the circumferential wall approaches in the reverse to the usual direction, and a guard or shield extending first outwardly and thence substantially parallel with said outer wall portion.

7. In a pneumatic straw stacker, a fan and a fan-housing having the ordinary tangential outlet and also a second outlet toward which the outer portion of the circumferential wall my hand and seal at Crookston, Minnesota, approaches in the reverse to the usual directhis twenty-fourth day of August, A. D. one tion, and a guard or shield extending first thousand nine hundred and six.

outwardly and thence substantially parallel LARS M. ANDERSON. [L. s.] 5 with said outer wall portion and having end Witnesses:

walls converging towards each other. ANTHoN PAULSBERG,

In witness whereof, I, have hereunto set CHESTER BRADFORD. 

